What led your path to the English Language Center at the University of Cape Town (UCT)?
I completed my Trinity Cert TESOL in London and most of my DELTA as well. I was going to gain some experience and then move to Spain to teach but life had other plans. My mom got very sick so I came home to South Africa and realized that this is where I wanted to be. Then I searched for a school to teach at as I wanted to teach at the best school in Cape Town. I started teaching here in the early days of the school and have been a part of seeing it grow - amazing experience!
TEFL Trainer Christelle with her TEFL trainees who are now teaching around the world
What do you do in a typical day/week as the Teacher, TEFL Trainer, and Social Media Manager?
Wow, where to start? When I am training teachers to be teachers (TEFL) my whole rhythm changes. The four week TEFL course is intensive (more intensive than trainees ever realize before they start) and the trainers work just as hard. My day starts at 8:30 a.m. and goes until 4:30 p.m. or sometimes 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m..
In the mornings, we have teaching practicals where the teachers teach students. This is a huge learning curve for trainees and we have a dedicated feedback slot straight after the practicals. After lunch is dedicated to input sessions where we discuss and learn about various teaching methodologies, how to plan lessons, learn about the various parts of a lesson, how to teach the various skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking), how to give correction - all the theory of teaching. My day usually ends when I complete the written feedback for the trainees and email it to them. Go home, eat, meditate, sleep, repeat!
When I’m wearing my Teacher Hat, I can be teaching any level, from Beginner to Advanced, or even IELTS. I teach from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.. Sometimes I teach in the afternoons at different levels. I also help other teachers with any questions they have and often lead and participate in Continual Professional Development sessions. In between all of that, I organize the social program and use the photos that we generate there on our various social network platforms.
What inspired your change in career from chartered insurance to education in 2012?
At the end of the insurance career, I was a counter-fraud investigator and I was very good at it. I enjoyed many parts of the job - working with people and investigators, putting the pieces of the puzzle together and providing detailed reports and recommendations about how to proceed to our clients. But all the negativity was killing my soul. So I took time to reflect on the parts of my career that I had enjoyed over the years and realized it all related to training and language, so I decided to complete my TEFL certification. Best decision of my life!
This is me and my co-teachers on the very beautiful Hiddingh campus, in the centre of Cape Town
You have taught in London, Manchester, and Cape Town. How do those experiences influence the work you do today?
It has enabled me to deal very well with multilingual classes.
I’ve also realized the importance of the social aspect to the students - they’re in a foreign country and they want to take as much as possible from it! It has also informed my teaching - I focus a lot on functional, useful language because students need it, especially at the lower levels!
A final point is realizing that English is only a means to an end for most students and trainees. For students, they want to achieve another goal and need English to do so, and TEFL trainees want to travel the world and experience different cultures and I help them to be a good teacher, which will enable them to do that.
What lessons from chartered insurance do you carry with you in your work in education?
I think the principles of any job are the same - work hard, do your best, don’t be afraid to say to no (politely, of course), or that you don’t know, or that you made a mistake. Learn from your mistakes, build rapport with everybody who crosses your path, show enthusiasm and keep learning all the time. And most importantly, be kind.
My business experience has stood me in particularly good stead in my TEFL career. My counter-fraud experience as well - I get a funny feeling in my tummy when someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes!
I love exploring South Africa as much as possible. Mountains and sea!
What do you love about your job?
Oh my goodness, where to begin! I love watching students and TEFL trainees go from very little understanding, to understanding, and implementation of whatever they have learned. I love guiding students and trainees on their path. I particularly enjoy leading students to understanding. I’m a big believer that if you engage cognitively with the material, you have a much better chance of real understanding and better retention.
I particularly like helping students to write meaningfully. But more about that later!
I love the social aspect of the job, engaging with my co-teachers and students from all around the world. I might not be traveling, but the world comes to me.
I love being creative in the classroom, finding ways to engage students on topics they find interesting (while taking in some language) and using technology to support their learning.
Why do you think it is important to travel and learn new languages?
Traveling and learning a new language gives you insight into other people. It shows you that humans all over the world are essentially in their core the same and have the same needs. This can lead to tolerance and kindness towards all people, which, in my view, is the two things most lacking thing in our world.
Meeting other people can also be a mirror to who you are, and can help you work out your strengths and weaknesses and better inform your choices.
Can you tell us about your interest in written production, lexical systems, and developing learner autonomy?
In my opinion, writing is not taught enough in the TEFL industry and it is SO important for so many reasons. It’s like slow speaking (albeit different) and such an amazing opportunity to practice newly acquired language and therefore retain it better. I also place a lot of emphasis on teaching coherence and cohesion to my students rather than focusing on grammar and vocabulary as I think a lot of teachers do.
Grammar and vocabulary are obviously an important part of writing, but they are the detail and, as teachers, we need to focus on the big picture more. I also encourage students to journal and often give time in class because I’m a big believer that connecting the language to your personal life is an excellent way of ‘making it real’. In their journal writing, I only respond to content, and I don’t ‘mark’ the writing. We’ve introduced this at ELC now as well.
This is my office - in class with my students!
We know that children (in their home language) learn words first and therefore, why should it be different in second language acquisition. Obviously, grammar has its place, but there is so much explicit and, in my view, unnecessary focus on it. I try to use the lexical approach although it’s hard work explaining to students why we are skipping the grammar sections.
To me, it is much more important to learn lexical chunks and collocations than single words. And I always research the students’ own language so that I can see what lexical differences they may have in their own languages. This helps me understand their mistakes.
Learner autonomy is so important. All my students are adults so I encourage them to be brave and take pride and responsibility in their own learning. I would almost always lead students to think how to solve whatever problem they face (language or life), rather than give them the solution. In a nutshell, I help them to develop their thinking skills.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel is when you don’t just ‘visit’ a place as a tourist but actually stay and get to know the local culture. It also means leaving as little footprint as possible and only adding good to the place that you are visiting.
What hopes do you have for the future of the English Language Center at the University of Cape Town?
We strive to be the best in our industry in South Africa and the destination choice for students and trainees, both in our TEFL program and our General English classes. We also aim to provide students with an experience that they will never forget!
We recently started CPD workshops for ALL TEFL teachers in the Western Cape (the area around Cape Town) because we are keen to share knowledge and raise the standards and profile of our industry. We invite speakers from various schools and higher education facilities to come and share their knowledge with the participants.
We also have big plans for our TEFL program so watch this space!
